


Intimate Studies

by trollmela



Series: So Far Away [3]
Category: NCIS, Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 16:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18237539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trollmela/pseuds/trollmela
Summary: There were brochures from the University of Phoenix, George Washington and even one from UCCS on Tony's couch table. He hadn't even had a chance to look at them before Daniel went through them.





	Intimate Studies

Tony had heard of Daniel’s impending visit at the last minute. They got lucky because Tony had the weekend off and at least didn’t expect to get a call to come in. But he hadn’t had a chance to clean his apartment in at least a week. If Tony had known that Daniel was coming, he wouldn’t have had to leave his boyfriend on the couch while he dealt with overdue laundry lying around in his bedroom.

By the time he’d closed the top of the washer and turned it on - double-checking the temperature only afterward as always - Daniel had called for pizza and opened a bottle of California wine to breathe. Now, sprawled on Tony’s sofa, he was leafing through the brochures Tony had dropped on the couch table once they’d arrived but hadn’t had a chance to look at.

“Big plans?” Daniel asked.

Tony wanted to sigh. He hadn’t wanted to talk about that with Daniel.

“Maybe,” he said.

Daniel glanced at him over the rim of his glasses. The last brochure of the stack was from UCCS, and it gave Daniel a pause.

“It’s stupid,” Tony shook his head. “Ignore them.” He made to grab them from Daniel, but the other man was quicker and pulled them out of his reach. With his other hand, he cupped Tony’s cheek and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth.

“What’s stupid?”

This time, Tony did sigh out loud. “The idea that I need another degree.”

“And what gave you that idea?”

Tony shrugged, clearly unwilling to talk.

Daniel licked his lips.

“It’s not me, is it?”

Tony smiled at him. “I find it hot when you go all smart on me.” His kiss pressed Daniel back into the cushions and almost tempted him to forget the topic.

“Just because you don’t have a Master’s or a PhD doesn’t mean that you’re not smart,” Daniel insisted when they came up for air. “You should know all about book smarts and life smarts. One isn’t worth more than the other.”

“Isn’t it?”

Daniel grimaced. “Shouldn’t then.”

Tony settled down next to him, curled up against Daniel’s shoulder and Daniel abruptly remembered that, a couple of years ago, his shoulder would have appeared much more slender next to Tony’s. Running from aliens had done that to him; seven years at the SGC had done that to him. If he thought about it too long, he’d remember the things he’d lost during that time; lost _because_ of the SGC. Sometimes, that hurt. At other times, he was glad for the things he’d learned with the program even when they were the other side of the coin of his losses. His innocence traded in for knowing how to kill and do so many other things that Daniel Jackson, the Academic, would have refused to learn on moral grounds.

“Are you unhappy at NCIS?”

“No,” Tony denied. “Just… maybe wondering if I could… you know… be more.”

“Be more what?”

Tony shrugged. He couldn’t put it into words.

“You’re a good investigator.” Daniel put in.

“And how do you know that?”

It was a legitimate question. Daniel had never seen him work. But-

“Your stories; and when we eat out and you guess people’s background; the fact that you’re still alive after so many undercover operations.”

Tony contemplated that. “Jack looked me up, didn’t he?”

Daniel huffed. “Yeah, okay, he did. Didn’t tell me much, in case you’re wondering. Just said that you’re a good agent.” He turned his head and pressed another kiss against Tony’s jaw. He was dead tired from the flight, and they were expecting pizza, though, so it wasn’t a good idea to start anything too intense.

Daniel still held the brochures, his finger marking the page he’d been on before Tony had interrupted him. Tony opened it there and Daniel didn’t resist. His fingers traced the letters of the Criminal Justice program. His lips pursed.

“You’d be looking at a lot of work. You’ve got a stressful job as it is.” Daniel remarked. “I’m not saying don’t do it-”

“I get it. You’re just putting the things out there I thought about, too.”

“How long did it take you to pay off your student loans from your first degree? Because my last payment wasn’t that long ago for me.” His various deaths had screwed up his credit history good.

“Didn’t you have a scholarship?”

“Sure. Didn’t cover everything though. Did yours?”

“No, but I suppose that was the good thing about leaving college after a BA. Fewer loans.” He frowned. “I also wasn’t into theory too much and after that house fire… I wanted to be a cop.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with not liking theory.” Daniel chuckled. “If you like, I’ll call Jack for you and he’ll tell you all about that.” His fingers tightened, and he dropped the brochures back on the table before he crumbled them. He grabbed Tony’s hand instead. “Maybe I don’t say this often enough to guys like you and Jack. I appreciate your hands-on approach. I know I’m not always good at that. I like to think that, in our team, we complement each other with our skills. Some people know when and where to run and how to survive in the wilderness, and I know how to decode puzzles and ancient writing.”

Maybe saying that was already too much. Without knowing what SGC did, it was hard to explain to Tony that there were good reasons to need both things - military skills _and _archeology. Jack, Teal’c _and_ Sam and Daniel - although Sam was more of a hybrid than Daniel was.__

__“Officers have degrees, too.” Tony massaged the back of Daniel’s hand._ _

__“Yeah, because they wanted to be officers, while others sign up with the military because they can’t afford to study otherwise. And there are probably other reasons as well.” Daniel had never thought about it too much._ _

__Tony sighed._ _

__“Finances, time - what else?”_ _

__“Your reason. If you want to do it, go for it, but do it for the right reasons. Do it for yourself, not someone else. If you’re putting thousands of dollars and hours into a degree, make sure it’s something you’ll be able to use afterward. Somethings that advances your career in the direction you want. Maybe think of that first. Where do you want to go and what do you need to get there? You don’t need it to be promoted to senior agent at NCIS, from what I understand.”_ _

__Tony raised an eyebrow at him. “Know a lot about careers at NCIS?”_ _

__Daniel shrugged. “I do research. I didn’t know anything about NCIS when I met you. For all I know it could have been the… National Council on … Information Systems. Or the National Crop Insurance Service. I’d actually heard about that one.”_ _

__A warm hand promptly slid up his shirt and tickled his side._ _

__“What did you say? What does NCIS stand for?”_ _

__Daniel shrank back, but now he was in for it. Tony pressed him down on the sofa, tickling his sides with both hands until Daniel was gasping under him with laughter and couldn’t find the breath to get past ‘Naval Criminal-”. Daniel was finally saved by the bell when the delivery man arrived and put his glasses on the table to wipe the tears from his face._ _

__Once he’d caught his breath, he followed Tony into the kitchen and poured the wine while Tony split the pizza. Without his glasses, he felt a bit disoriented, but he was fine as long as he was in a familiar environment and with familiar people. His sight wasn’t bad enough yet to miss the glass while pouring._ _

__“What I meant to say is: you’re fine the way you are. You don’t need to be more, at least not for me. But if you want to get another degree, I’ll support you where I can.”_ _

__Tony shook his head. “Thanks, babe, but it’s just not realistic. With my hours, I’m glad if all I have to do after work is relax. And you’re right: I don’t need another degree to be promoted to senior agent, which would be a couple of years off anyhow.” He glanced at Daniel. “Any positions at your telemetry project I wouldn’t need a physics degree for?”_ _

__Daniel smiled sadly. “Plenty.”_ _

__But they both knew that was a risky idea they shouldn’t think about. Thankfully, Tony changed the subject and offered to pick a movie as they went back to the couch to eat. Daniel already knew he wouldn’t be able stay awake for one, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was the time they had together. It would be over too quickly either way, especially with Atlantis to consider. At some point this weekend, Daniel was going to have to tell Tony about that, with the usual half-lies and half-truths his job required._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Perhaps I put too many plot ideas into this story. I wanted a book smarts vs street smarts discussion, what drew Tony and Daniel to each other (which didn't end up happening), how Daniel changed over time because of his work, once again the difficulties of a highly confidential job you can't talk about even with your partner, and, finally, Daniel's plan to leave for Atlantis. Although I'm not entirely happy with the result, I decided to post the story anyway, because I also know that I rarely make big changes after writing something.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it anyway!


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